Due to improved medical care, people are living longer lives. However, many people, regardless of age, are unable to care for themselves, and thus live, for example, in a nursing home or similar type institution. Other people, such as, for example, the aged, may find that it is difficult and/or no longer desirable to live alone, and thus, elect to live in, for example, an assisted living facility that provides their residents with assistance with certain daily tasks (such as, for example, bathing and dressing) and respond to requests for emergency assistance. Alternatively, such monitoring services may also be desirable in a home setting, when, for example, an individual lives alone but is afraid of being helpless should he/she fall.
In a typical assisted living or nursing home situation, a limited number of staff members are available to monitor a relatively large number of residents (or patients). Occasionally, an urgent need by one of the monitored individuals may arise that requires a rapid response. In the absence of that response, serious injury, or even death, may occur.
In a home setting, there are generally fewer individuals that need monitoring. In this situation, the individual to be monitored may retain an aid to assist with, for example, cooking, cleaning and performing routine house chores. Such an individual that is being monitored may, for example, fall while the aid is out shopping, and have to wait lying on the floor until the aid returns. Such a situation is not desirable.
In this regard, it is noted that phrases, such as, but not limited to, for example, staff, staff member, monitoring personnel, attending personnel, etc., refer to a person located on or off the premises (facility) where the individual (subject) is being monitored, and may include, for example, an emergency call service or a neighbor of the monitored individual.